It's an incredible effect to perform for lay people. You gotta be carefull to choose the "right" audience for that one though. I wouldn't perform that one for kids or for older people. The reaction you get from that one are pretty cool!

I got mine this morning and I performed it tonight for a friend of my wife's. She's only seen me live a couple of times. My little twist was that I performed a pulse-stop first to "stop my bloodflow" and then performed SAW. She FREAKED! I mean, screamed and ran out of the room freaked! And this woman has seen me do razor blades and put my hand in animal traps. It's clever, well produced and painfully underpriced. It's not the method that makes this video so great, it's the detailed explanations and alternate effects that made it such a great purchase for me.

I plan to use this on an updated demo video along with my updated site that will be up in a couple weeks. Thanks for the great idea Sean! I'm happy to have contributed to your success, as I'm confident these effects will contribute to mine. Although, I plan to spend some time playing with some different ideas I have to change it up and make it different than the original. Please note that I said PLAN, I always try to change effects that I use to make them more "me", but some effects just don't need any tweaking!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I played around with using a guitar string tonight too and it looks fantastic! I'm also a musician so I wanted to see if I could perform it with a guitar string as it would really freak out my "muso" buddies. I play drums in an aggro/industrial band and it's just the right kind of thing for that audience. (don't worry Sean, I used the guitar string at my own risk, consciously ignoring your warnings while knowing they are necessary to avoid lawsuits )

Thank you very much James!

Not just for the feedback, which is appreciated, but also for paying attention to the warnings! Fact is, there is very little danger involved with the effect, but I do have to watch my butt!

Sean

Hey Sean, I just wanted to say thanks for the quick PM and great ideas for me to tailor this effect to my act like I mentioned I wanted to do. I don't gush over every effect I pick up, just the great ones. And this is a great one! Although my head still hurts from smacking it over and over again for not putting this idea together for myself!

A variation to try with saw is to actually use a needle on the end of the thread. Obviously making adaptations to the point.I present it as self hypnotic control effect.Explains the lack of blood loss.It looks very convicing having a needle dangling from yout throat.

This is a great one. Thanks for posting this idea, Michael!

I performed this to an audience of about 150 this weekend. My band was playing at a popular club in Madison and 1 of the other bands didn't make it, so my bandmates asked if I would perform a bit before we went on. I opened with SAW and it absolutely KILLED! People were literally standing up while pointing and screaming! The reaction was so strong that it actually made me lose my place in my show for a bit. Of everything I performed, this got the biggest reaction and leading with it really played well for this kind of audience. I play in an aggro/industrial band so the crowd was of the tattoed/pierced/freaky type.

I've already started working on a variation of Choke to combine it with my razor blade routine. I use 5 blades in my routine, but I'm only going to pull 4 out of my mouth with the thread. Then I will begin to cough and choke a bit on the '5th' blade. Next, I just take a new piece of thread off the spool and perform Choke and pull the last rezor blade out of my throat. I'm still cleaning up the handling but should be ready to perform this in a few weeks. It is the perfect ending to the razor blade routine for me!!

Our band received several emails from people at the show asking about my performance, in particular SAW. Thanks again for a great effect Sean!

Saw the little clip of this, made me close my eyes.
I have had needle through arm for years, but this looks great!!

Yea I love SAW, I havent really perfomed it because I'm having trouble with it. I feel kinda stupid because it seems like no one has had any problems. I think I know what I'm doing wrong, now that I think about it. Ill just mess with the effect till it looks right.
Can someone PM if they have this effect and can share some ideas with me. thanks.

The levitator, I was thinking the same thing when I got it, to use it to shock an audence before a show. haha And it seems like the perfect effect for Industrial.

I just have to share this with you guys! I had another show performing with a metal band, and I did my version of SAW. I combined it with my razor blade routine. I perform a version of Razor Blades much like Andrew Mayne's version, with 5 blades. The difference is, I only bring 4 blades out of my mouth on the string. I then look at the string, start to cough and choke, and break off a second piece of string. I then use the SAW effect to get the last blade out of my throat, using the same mechanics as Sean's "Choke" variation. Man, when that blade popped out of the middle of my throat, the place went beserk! I actually had a girl tell me she almost fainted! I think the shot specials that night probably had more to do with that though!!

Can someone in the UK message me direct with details of what Gimick stuff they use, I've tried a few different types with no success, seems the ingredients must have changed over the years, if someone knows a supplier with some working stuff to use, please let me know!

Many thanks in advance.

Criss Angel used this tonight on his premiere episode of mindfreak season 3, he used guitar string and he did the borrowed ring routine

Hey levitator,
I also use razor blades with saw!!! I put the blade in my mouth, swallow it and saw through my neck then yank it out link on the thread. I really like your idea with the 5 blade trick! Awesome!

Its a good effect and it doesn't even take like much work to do but yet its very powerful

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would let you all know that I have finally joined the 21st century; Saw is now available as a download from my site, http://www.seanfields.net!

I am really impressed with how well Criss performed the illusion on the show; he really did it justice, I feel.

And Levitator, MentalMike, the razor blades thing is a great idea; I might have to start using that myself!

Holla!

Sean

represent..

Criss perfromed this the other night.

I liked his ending.

Congrats Sean,,,

I hope Criss sent you a BIGGGG CHECK !

:)

I agree you deserve-it, Sean this Illusion is most excellent!

-Erick

Thank you guys so much; that kind of support is what drives me to improve!

No check, but if we keep bugging him, maybe a spot on the consultation team!

Sean

I saw Criss do it on tv. Great effect.